A hundred years from now when they look back and want to know what a man was like, or wanted to be like, and what people thought in the early 21st century, they'll look to the performances of George Clooney, particularly in UP IN THE AIR. He should have won the Oscar that year but lost to the perennially under-appreciated Jeff Bridges, the sentimental favorite.

A hundred years from now when they look back and want to know what...

A hundred years from now when they look back and want to know what... Photo-5932834.79804 - SFGate

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BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN should have won over CRASH for best picture of 2005.

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN should have won over CRASH for best picture of...

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN should have won over CRASH for best picture of... Photo-5871608.79804 - SFGate

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Carmen Ejogo was robbed last year: She should have been nominated for her performance in SPARKLE. How could Anne Hathaway be nominated for five minutes of sobbing in LES MISERABLES, and Ejogo be ignored? The mind boggles.

Carmen Ejogo was robbed last year: She should have been nominated...

Carmen Ejogo was robbed last year: She should have been nominated... Photo-5871641.79804 - SFGate

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In retrospect, Casey Affleck's sniveling, nuanced performance as Robert Ford was more interesting than Javier Bardem's assassin in NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. Affleck should have won supporting actor.

The Academy gave the 1964 Best Picture Oscar to MY FAIR LADY, a lovely movie, but it was a little like giving an Oscar to the past. If they wanted to give it to the present, they could have given it to DR. STRANGELOVE.

Photo: Columbia Pictures 1964

The Academy gave the 1964 Best Picture Oscar to MY FAIR LADY, a...

The Academy gave the 1964 Best Picture Oscar to MY FAIR LADY, a... Photo-5871613.79804 - SFGate

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Michelle Williams in BLUE VALENTINE (2010) should have won Best Actress, but she lost to Natalie Portman in BLACK SWAN. If Williams didn't win, Bening should have won for THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT.

Photo: Davi Russo, The Weinstein Co.

Michelle Williams in BLUE VALENTINE (2010) should have won Best...

Michelle Williams in BLUE VALENTINE (2010) should have won Best... Photo-5871615.79804 - SFGate

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Annette Bening in BEING JULIA lost Best Actress to Hilary Swank in MILLION DOLLAR BABY for one reason: few people saw BEING JULIA (2004).

Photo: Alex Dukay

Annette Bening in BEING JULIA lost Best Actress to Hilary Swank in...

Annette Bening in BEING JULIA lost Best Actress to Hilary Swank in... Photo-5871617.79804 - SFGate

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A critic called this the greatest performance ever in a sound film. Otis Ferguson of the New Republic called Garbo in CAMILLE "the most beautiful thing of a generation." She lost Best Actress to something borderline ridiculous -- Luise Rainer playing a Chinese farmer THE GOOD EARTH -- in 1937.

Photo: MGM

A critic called this the greatest performance ever in a sound film....

A critic called this the greatest performance ever in a sound film.... Photo-5871618.79804 - SFGate

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Alison Elliott -- a crime that's still felt today. The Academy ignored her sublime supporting performance in THE WINGS OF THE DOVE (1997), awarding Kim Basinger in L.A. CONFIDENTIAL.

James Stewart in ANATOMY OF A MURDER (1959),for which he received a nomination for Best Actor. He really should have won, but Charlton Heston in BEN-HUR did.

Photo: AP Anonymous, Associated Press

James Stewart in ANATOMY OF A MURDER (1959),for which he received a...

James Stewart in ANATOMY OF A MURDER (1959),for which he received a... Photo-5871620.79804 - SFGate

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Faye Dunaway in BONNIE AND CLYDE. Best film of 1967, a great movie year, but it lost to the OK but now-dated IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT.

Photo: Warner Bros. 1967

Faye Dunaway in BONNIE AND CLYDE. Best film of 1967, a great movie...

Faye Dunaway in BONNIE AND CLYDE. Best film of 1967, a great movie... Photo-5871621.79804 - SFGate

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LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962) was one of the defining 1960s films, with a great performance by Peter O'Toole, who was nominated for Best Actor but did not win. He should have, but the Academy went with Gregory Peck for TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD.

Photo: Columbia Pictures 1962

LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962) was one of the defining 1960s films, with...

LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962) was one of the defining 1960s films, with... Photo-5871622.79804 - SFGate

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RAGING BULL (1980) lost Best Picture to ORDINARY PEOPLE. Hard to imagine.

You want to see something jaw-dropping? Watch Jeanne Eagels in THE LETTER (1929), newly released on DVD. You'll never see anything like her. But she was ignored, of course, by the Academy, who chose Mary Pickford in COQUETTE as Best Actress.

THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES (2007) -- one of the greatest westerns of all time, all but ignored by the Academy in a year that NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN dominated.

THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES (2007) -- one of the greatest...

THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES (2007) -- one of the greatest... Photo-5871625.79804 - SFGate

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The Netherlands' THE VANISHING (1988) should have been nominated for Best Foreign Language Film. (It was disqualified from consideration by the Academy for featuring too much French, and the award went to Denmark's PELLE THE CONQUEROR.) No one who sees it ever forgets it -- even if they want to.

The Netherlands' THE VANISHING (1988) should have been nominated...

The Netherlands' THE VANISHING (1988) should have been... Photo-5871626.79804 - SFGate

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Melanie Laurent as Shosanna in Quentin Tarantino's INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS (2009). That film was the best thing that happened in cinema that year. It should have won Best Picture, not THE HURT LOCKER.

BEFORE SUNRISE (1995) was entirely ignored by the Academy. (BRAVEHEART won Best Picture that year.) Don't tell me it took ten years for anyone to realize this was a classic. I said so the day it was released and put it at the top of my top ten.

BEFORE SUNRISE (1995) was entirely ignored by the Academy....

BEFORE SUNRISE (1995) was entirely ignored by the Academy.... Photo-5871628.79804 - SFGate

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Margaret Sullavan in THREE COMRADES (1938). Should have won Best Actress against Bette Davis in JEZEBEL.

Photo: Ho

Margaret Sullavan in THREE COMRADES (1938). Should have won Best...

Margaret Sullavan in THREE COMRADES (1938). Should have won Best... Photo-5871629.79804 - SFGate

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JERRY MAGUIRE (1996) is Tom Cruise's best performance, but he didn't win Best Actor. Geoffrey Rush did, for SHINE.

Cary Grant never won a competitive Oscar -- not even for SUSPICION (1941).

Cary Grant never won a competitive Oscar -- not even for SUSPICION...

Cary Grant never won a competitive Oscar -- not even for SUSPICION... Photo-5871632.79804 - SFGate

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CITY LIGHTS (1931) -- just one of the greatest films ever made, but totally ignored by the Academy. (CIMARRON won Best Picture that year.)

CITY LIGHTS (1931) -- just one of the greatest films ever made, but...

CITY LIGHTS (1931) -- just one of the greatest films ever made, but... Photo-5871633.79804 - SFGate

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Montgomery Clift in A PLACE IN THE SUN (1951) -- great actor, in one of his greatest performances. He didn't win Best Actor; Humphrey Bogart did, for THE AFRICAN QUEEN.

Montgomery Clift in A PLACE IN THE SUN (1951) -- great actor, in...

Montgomery Clift in A PLACE IN THE SUN (1951) -- great actor, in... Photo-5871634.79804 - SFGate

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GOODFELLAS was the best and most lasting film of 1990, but it lost Best Picture. To DANCES WITH WOLVES.

Photo: ONLINE_YES

GOODFELLAS was the best and most lasting film of 1990, but it lost...

GOODFELLAS was the best and most lasting film of 1990, but it lost... Photo-5871635.79804 - SFGate

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25TH HOUR (2002), Spike Lee's post-9/11 masterpiece, is one of its decade's greatest films, but it was ignored by the Academy. (CHICAGO won that year.) It probably didn't help that there was practically no Oscar campaign behind it.

Edward G. Robinson was never nominated for an Oscar. Not even for TWO SECONDS (1932).

Edward G. Robinson was never nominated for an Oscar. Not even for...

Edward G. Robinson was never nominated for an Oscar. Not even for... Photo-5871640.79804 - SFGate

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A FACE IN THE CROWD (1957): Two Oscars that should have happened, but didn't. Andy Griffith gave for one of the great performances of the 1950s, but wasn't even nominated for Best Actor. Neither was the film in the Best Picture category. (THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI and its star Alec Guinness would prove victorious.)

A FACE IN THE CROWD (1957): Two Oscars that should have happened,...

A FACE IN THE CROWD (1957): Two Oscars that should have happened,... Photo-5871642.79804 - SFGate

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This time it wasn't the Academy's fault. Christian McKay should have been nominated for Best Supporting Actor in ME AND ORSON WELLES (2009), but the studio, figuring Christoph Waltz was a lock for INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, positioned the unknown McKay for best actor instead. The result? He was nominated for neither.

Photo: Daniel/AP

This time it wasn't the Academy's fault. Christian McKay should...

This time it wasn't the Academy's fault. Christian McKay... Photo-5871643.79804 - SFGate

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BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935) -- a fascinating blend of horror and horror spoof, worthy of serious consideration for Best Picture. And what about Karloff in the best monster -- or Best Actor -- category? (The Academy gave those awards to MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY and Victor McLaglen, for THE INFORMER, respectively.)

Greta Garbo in A WOMAN OF AFFAIRS (1928). One of the great silent performances, but not even nominated against eventual winner Mary Pickford in COQUETTE.

Photo: Handout

Greta Garbo in A WOMAN OF AFFAIRS (1928). One of the great silent...

Greta Garbo in A WOMAN OF AFFAIRS (1928). One of the great silent... Photo-5871645.79804 - SFGate

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Judy Garland in A STAR IS BORN (1954). She should have won, not Grace Kelly in THE COUNTRY GIRL.

Judy Garland in A STAR IS BORN (1954). She should have won, not...

Judy Garland in A STAR IS BORN (1954). She should have won, not... Photo-5871646.79804 - SFGate

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I'm not saying SIDEWAYS (2004) should have won Best Picture. I'm saying maybe it should have won. It should have been close. (MILLION DOLLAR BABY would prove victorious that year.)

Photo: Merie W. Wallace, AP

I'm not saying SIDEWAYS (2004) should have won Best Picture. I'm...

I'm not saying SIDEWAYS (2004) should have won Best Picture.... Photo-5871647.79804 - SFGate

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GLOOMY SUNDAY (1999), a German production set in Budapest, is one of the great foreign films of the 1990s, but it wasn't nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, possibly because it wasn't released in the United States early enough for it to qualify. (Spain's ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER was, and won.) See it, if you haven't. It's wonderful.

GLOOMY SUNDAY (1999), a German production set in Budapest, is one...

GLOOMY SUNDAY (1999), a German production set in Budapest, is one... Photo-5871648.79804 - SFGate

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Humphrey Bogart should have won Best Actor for IN A LONELY PLACE (1950). He wasn't even nominated against José Ferrer's winning performance in CYRANO DE BERGERAC.

Photo: Courtesy Sony Pictures Repertory/Film Forum.

Humphrey Bogart should have won Best Actor for IN A LONELY PLACE...

Humphrey Bogart should have won Best Actor for IN A LONELY PLACE... Photo-5871649.79804 - SFGate

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Just because you laughed at BRIDESMAIDS (2011) doesn't mean it wasn't great. The comedy of the year, it deserved Best Picture consideration. (THE ARTIST won that year.)

Photo: Suzanne Hanover, Associated Press

Just because you laughed at BRIDESMAIDS (2011) doesn't mean it...

Just because you laughed at BRIDESMAIDS (2011) doesn't mean it... Photo-5871650.79804 - SFGate

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Alfred Hitchcock never won a competitive Oscar. Even when one of his (lesser) films, REBECCA (1940), won Best Picture, he was defeated in the Best Director category by John Ford for THE GRAPES OF WRATH.

Alfred Hitchcock never won a competitive Oscar. Even when one of...

Alfred Hitchcock never won a competitive Oscar. Even when one of... Photo-5871651.79804 - SFGate

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How did Richard Burton not win for WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (1996) For the Bergen scene alone, he should have beaten Paul Scofield in A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS.

Photo: Warner Bros.

How did Richard Burton not win for WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?...

How did Richard Burton not win for WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA... Photo-5871652.79804 - SFGate

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Two missed Oscars here: Meg Ryan for Best Actress, IN THE CUT (2003) for Best Picture. Neither were nominated. (Charlize Theron, for MONSTER, and THE LORD OF THE RINGS: RETURN OF THE KING were the year's winners.)

Two missed Oscars here: Meg Ryan for Best Actress, IN THE CUT...

Two missed Oscars here: Meg Ryan for Best Actress, IN THE CUT... Photo-5871653.79804 - SFGate

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FIVE EASY PIECES (197) is one of the most lasting achievements of its era, a film that has maintained its truth over four decades. And Jack Nicholson was great, too. Both were nominated, but lost to PATTON and its star George C. Scott, respectively.

FIVE EASY PIECES (197) is one of the most lasting achievements of...

FIVE EASY PIECES (197) is one of the most lasting achievements of... Photo-5871654.79804 - SFGate

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JFK was the best film of 1991, the big thing that happened in cinema that year, but it lost to THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS.

JFK was the best film of 1991, the big thing that happened in...

JFK was the best film of 1991, the big thing that happened in... Photo-5871655.79804 - SFGate

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CITIZEN KANE (1941) is one of the cinema's greatest, but it didn't win Best Picture. HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY did.

CITIZEN KANE (1941) is one of the cinema's greatest, but it didn't...

CITIZEN KANE (1941) is one of the cinema's greatest, but it... Photo-5871656.79804 - SFGate

Michelle Williams should have won for MY WEEK WITH MARILYN (2011). The Academy went with Meryl Streep in THE IRON LADY.

Michelle Williams should have won for MY WEEK WITH MARILYN (2011)....

Michelle Williams should have won for MY WEEK WITH MARILYN (2011).... Photo-5871668.79804 - SFGate

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THE NEW WORLD (2005) -- this is what happens when you make the greatest film of the decade. Nobody realizes it at the time, and so no one nominates it for Best Picture. (CRASH won that year.)

THE NEW WORLD (2005) -- this is what happens when you make the...

THE NEW WORLD (2005) -- this is what happens when you make the... Photo-5871669.79804 - SFGate

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ONE DAY (2011) was one of the best films of 2011, but it was ignored by the Academy. It will endure.

ONE DAY (2011) was one of the best films of 2011, but it was...

ONE DAY (2011) was one of the best films of 2011, but it was... Photo-5871670.79804 - SFGate

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Nathalie Baye presided over the awarding of a lifetime achievement Cesar to Meryl Streep in 2003. It's time for Streep to preside over the awarding of a lifetime achievement Oscar to Baye, whose films, better than those of any other, tell the story of women since 1970.

Nathalie Baye presided over the awarding of a lifetime achievement...

Nathalie Baye presided over the awarding of a lifetime achievement... Photo-5871671.79804 - SFGate

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Robert Mitchum in THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (1955). It was ignored by the Academy when it came out, but is recognized as a masterpiece today. (MARTY won Best Picture that year.)

Photo: United Artists 1955, SFC

Robert Mitchum in THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (1955). It was ignored by...

Robert Mitchum in THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (1955). It was ignored by... Photo-5871672.79804 - SFGate

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Morgan Freeman should have won Best Picture for SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (1994), not Tom Hanks for FORREST GUMP.

Photo: MICHAEL WEINSTEIN, Associated Press

Morgan Freeman should have won Best Picture for SHAWSHANK...

Morgan Freeman should have won Best Picture for SHAWSHANK... Photo-5871673.79804 - SFGate

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THE GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933 is one of the greatest films of the Depression. It should have been nominated for Best Picture, and it should have won. (The Oscar that year went to CAVALCADE.)

Photo: 1933, ONLINE_YES

THE GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933 is one of the greatest films of the...

THE GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933 is one of the greatest films of the... Photo-5871674.79804 - SFGate

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Someone should have given a Best Original Screenplay nod to THE LAST FLIGHT (1931), with its dialogue straight out of a surreal Richard Lester film, thirty years before Lester was even making movies. At the time, the category didn't even exist yet.

Photo: File

Someone should have given a Best Original Screenplay nod to THE...

Someone should have given a Best Original Screenplay nod to THE... Photo-5871675.79804 - SFGate

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REVANCHE (2008), a masterpiece from Austria, was not nominated for Best Foreign Language Film. (Japan's DEPARTURES won that year.)

REVANCHE (2008), a masterpiece from Austria, was not nominated for...

REVANCHE (2008), a masterpiece from Austria, was not nominated for... Photo-5871676.79804 - SFGate

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ROMAN DE GARE (2007), a perfect suspense film from France, was not even nominated for Best Foreign Language Film. (The prize went to Austria's THE COUNTERFEITERS.)

ROMAN DE GARE (2007), a perfect suspense film from France, was not...

ROMAN DE GARE (2007), a perfect suspense film from France, was not... Photo-5871677.79804 - SFGate

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Three missed nominations for SHATTERED GLASS (2003): picture, actor (Hayden Christensen as Stephen Glass), and especially supporting actor Peter Sargaard as his editor. (This was the year of THE LORD OF THE RINGS: RETURN OF THE KING, with Sean Penn and Tim Robbins taking acting prizes for MYSTIC RIVER.)

SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS -- along with A FACE IN THE CROWD, one of the two great films of 1957. Neither were nominated, and the prize went to The BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI.

SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS -- along with A FACE IN THE CROWD, one of...

SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS -- along with A FACE IN THE CROWD, one of... Photo-5871680.79804 - SFGate

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Jennifer Jason Leigh in MRS. PARKER AND THE VICIOUS CIRCLE (1994) deserved at least a Best Actress nomination. She deserved one for GEORGIA (1995), too. (Jessica Lange in BLUE SKY and Susan Sarandon in DEAD MAN WALKING picked it up in those years.)

THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR was a prescient film in 1975, but the Academy thought of it as just another thriller at the time. (ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST was named Best Picture.) The decades since have revealed its importance.

THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR was a prescient film in 1975, but the...

THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR was a prescient film in 1975, but the... Photo-5871682.79804 - SFGate

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Leonardo DiCaprio in TITANIC (1997): Say what you want about the movie, but DiCaprio was the heart and soul of the whole enterprise, and he wasn't even nominated. (Jack Nicholson won that year for AS GOOD AS IT GETS.)

For her command of tone, Adrienne Shelly should have received a posthumous Best Director nomination for WAITRESS (2007). The Coen Brothers were the eventual winners, for NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.

For her command of tone, Adrienne Shelly should have received a...

For her command of tone, Adrienne Shelly should have received a... Photo-5871614.79804 - SFGate

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Georges Clonney waves as he arrives for a the press conference of the movie "Michael Clayton" at the Venice Lido, 31 August 2007, during the 64th Venice International Film Festival. Clooney went on to lose the best actor Oscar to Daniel Day-Lewis THERE WILL BE BLOOD. He shouldn't have.

Photo: CHRISTOPHE SIMON, AFP/Getty Images

Georges Clonney waves as he arrives for a the press conference of...

Georges Clonney waves as he arrives for a the press conference of... Photo-5871574.79804 - SFGate

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Karin Viard in France's THE ROLE OF HER LIFE (2004), one of the great films of the first decade of the century. It should have been nominated for Best Foreign Language Film. (The Academy chose Spain's THE SEA INSIDE.)

Karin Viard in France's THE ROLE OF HER LIFE (2004), one of the...

Karin Viard in France's THE ROLE OF HER LIFE (2004), one of... Photo-5871685.79804 - SFGate

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Meryl Streep really should have won for JULIE AND JULIA, over Sandra Bullock in THE BLIND SIDE -- though nothing against Sandra Bullock in THE BLIND SIDE.

Photo: AFP, AFP/Getty Images

Meryl Streep really should have won for JULIE AND JULIA, over...

Meryl Streep really should have won for JULIE AND JULIA, over... Photo-5871606.79804 - SFGate

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Actress Annette Bening poses with her award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture (Musical Comedy) for 'The Kids Are All Right' at the 68th annual Golden Globe awards, January 16, 2011. She lost that year to Natalie Portman in BLACK SWAN.

Photo: AFP, AFP/Getty Images

Actress Annette Bening poses with her award for Best Performance by...

FINGERS -- of course it was ignored in 1978, the year of THE DEER HUNTER. How about a career achievement award for writer-director James Toback?

Photo: Tk, SFC

FINGERS -- of course it was ignored in 1978, the year of THE DEER...

FINGERS -- of course it was ignored in 1978, the year of THE DEER... Photo-5871687.79804 - SFGate

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Harvey Keitel's amazing performance in the 1992 film BAD LIEUTENANT, by Abel Ferrara, is precisely the kind of extreme performance the Academy ignores. (Best Actor that year went to Al Pacino in SCENT OF A WOMAN.)